RE-EVALUATING GHOSTBUSTERS II

 

            The nostalgia wave that’s led to numerous reboots, relaunches and decades-later continuations seems to have also sparked the revisiting and reevaluation of past shows or movies and such. In particular, entries that may not have quite landed with their audience at the time. For instance, Thor: Love & Thunder seems to have brought new fans to Thor: The Dark World; originally regarded as the worst of the Thor franchise. 

Who ya gonna call? Again?

            Another film that’s been getting renewed attention of late is Ghostbusters II. The 1989 sequel reunited the principal cast of Ghostbusters and pit them against a new threat in semi-dead despotic magician Vigo the Carpathian (portrayed by Wilhelm von Homburg and voiced by Max von Sydow), who had taken up residence in his own portrait. In order to live again, he needed a new host body and had chosen that of the baby of Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), who had married and divorced between the films and taken up art restoration (a natural progression from cellist?). 

I don't know--is it art?

            Where do I fall on this debate? Glad you asked! Frankly, when it comes to Ghostbusters II, I’m kinda…meh. The film is…fine. It could have been good. Maybe even great. All the pieces were there: the same writers, the same director, the same cast, plenty of fanbase good will… But it just wasn’t the same. If I had to categorize it using The Real Ghostbusters as a metric, I’d say Ghostbusters was the 78 episodes done under J. Michael Straczynski and Ghostbusters II was the rest of the show after ABC hired a consulting firm to *cough* “improve” it.  

The sole remaining shot of the original Ecto-2 license plate.

            Right off the bat, you can see the shift in tone between the films. Ghostbusters II was reportedly done with RGB in mind. They knew they had a large kid audience, they knew the show was a hit, so they made the film more “kid friendly” than the first. Minor cursing, very little drinking or smoking, no ghostly Playmates, and a greater emphasis on Slimer (thankfully mostly left on the cutting room floor). Hell, they even changed the car from Ecto-2 to Ecto-1A so as not to conflict with the helicopter’s designation from the show. You’d think with that much focus on the animated series we could’ve gotten more than a beat-for-beat rehash of the first film that it ended up being. You’d also think we could’ve avoided the annoying Janine Melnitz/Louis Tully romance. Yeah, that’s right: I’m a Janine/Egon shipper. Did they ever come up with a combined name for that? Jegon?  

When walking in New York that squish you feel may not be dog poop you're stepping in.

 They followed the 80s trend of trying to infuse it with a pro-social message about negativity and kindness represented by the mood slime, and, the topper, threw in a baby. The family-friendly grab bag. As a result, it just didn’t have the same bite the first one had. Now, I know, someone out there will trot out the severed head scene as proof that it could be just as scary as the first, but what if I told you that was part of the reshoots added after a bad test screening? Yeah, the test screening didn’t go over well. Meanwhile, the first film had missing special effects when it tested and was a hit.

By Al Fredo Fettuccini. 

            There were a lot of things going against this movie. A lot of hemming and hawing from both the studio and the co-creators if they even wanted a part 2, a significantly tight shooting schedule to rival even the first’s, and so many rewrites and reshoots that the film that came out barely resembled the one they started production with. Bill Murray once said in an interview that Ghostbusters II just wasn’t as fun to make as the first (the fun being the sole reason they decided to do the second), and it showed in the performances. Don’t get me wrong: everyone delivered to the best of their abilities, these are not bad actors. But you can tell when the cast is having some genuine fun on set and when they’re just showing up for work.  

C'mon, the Titanic arriving was just plain cool.

            Ghostbusters II does have its moments, however. A little silver lining in the clouds, if you will. The aforementioned head scene and the following train were pretty cool, as was some of the hauntings seen in the “Flip City” montage when Vigo was about to make his move. The mood slime itself was a novel idea, especially how it was utilized. Vigo was a pretty menacing villain, being more actively involved in the plot’s progression than Gozer was in the first. The Statue of Liberty thing was also cool, despite just being a “good” version of Stay Puft. The black suits were also an interesting addition. Music was another excellent element, with the soundtrack featuring songs from the likes of Run-DMC, Elton John (though not featured in the film) and Jackie Wilson (though not featured on the soundtrack); although the score couldn’t quite compare to Elmer Bernstein’s from the original. Ecto-1A—that took me a few decades to warm up to, which I eventually did. I mean, yeah, it makes sense in terms of a business, but as a classic car lover I thought it was garish and extremely over the top compared to the clean sleekness of the original. 

Still the best.

            Now, I’ll be the first to admit I’ve seen Ghostbusters II a few hundred times. And I just recently bought some logo t-shirts because I was feeling a bit nostalgic about it. I mean, c’mon, at the end of the day it’s still Ghostbusters. But if it came down to a choice of both movies being on different channels at the same time, the first would win every time. Ghostbusters II is not a bad movie; it was just very disappointing when compared to the first and with the hype maintained by the animated series. I think the true lesson here is to just stop trying to make a Ghostbusters film in under a year. 

            What are your thoughts on Ghostbusters II? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Is it your favorite? Sound off in the comments below!

SHE-HULK EPISODE 7 REVIEW

 

            So, yeah, Jen has the worst luck with men. That’s just, like, an unfortunate truth at this point. If you hadn’t guessed by that vague statement, Josh (Trevor Salter), the dude from the wedding that seemed very much into Jen and not She-Hulk, ended up disappointing us all (although, honestly, he was suspect from the start). If you want to know how exactly, you’ll need to watch the episode.

Sharing is caring.

            Otherwise, this episode had a singular focus. Jen gets called up by Blonsky’s (Tim Roth) parole officer to accompany him to check out why Blonsky’s inhibitor stopped working. Jen gets stranded there and ends up experiencing what Blonsky’s little paradise has to offer; which allowed her to gain some introspective into herself and start to make some peace with the dichotomy of her existence. I can’t delve much deeper into that without spoiling everything that happens, because that’s all that happens. Which is a lot more entertaining than it sounds, believe me!

Blonsky's gang. But, y'know, not actually a gang. In case the parole board asks.

            We got introduced to a host of new characters, including Man-Bull (Nathan Hurd), El Aguila (Joseph Castillo-Midyett), Saracen (Terrence Clowe) and Porcupine (Jordan Aaron Ford). These guys provided the bulk of the episode’s humor, with their quirkiness and interactions with each other. While not as elaborately done as Ms. Marvel’s, it was fun to see the use of text messages in the episode. Also, the “No Service” gag got me laughing. Plus, episode/comic writer Zeb Wells obviously heard my complaint about the “Previously On” segment by throwing a gag about it in the episode. So, thank you, Zeb! (Obviously I’m kidding—these episodes were done long before I ever decided to start up this blog).

Existential dread.

            She-Hulk has a slowly progressing overlying plot that often gets overshadowed for some by the seemingly disconnected “days in the life of” approach the main stories seem to take. But each episode has been gradually laying pieces as the show chugs along to its finale, even if they aren’t immediately evident. It also has been continually subverting expectations, making it hard to predict what’s going to happen which is, frankly, refreshing. However, there is an odd mixed message as the show simultaneously tries to say that both parts of Jen matter while driving home the point that Shulkie is preferable to just Jen. A bit of a strange dichotomy there.

SHE-HULK EPISODE 6 REVIEW

 

If you got it, flaunt it.

            Before I get into the meat of it, I wanna address something. I’ve seen a few people say that this show is lacking because it’s a comedy that doesn’t make them laugh. Back in the days when I could sit and watch TV regularly, I watched a lot of sitcoms. I can count on one—maybe two—hands the number of them that actually made me erupt in laughter. There’s laugh-out-loud funny, and then there’s enjoyably funny. The latter may not make you laugh, but you’ll still have a good time. And that’s what I find She-Hulk is. There have been moments where I’ve laughed, but for the most part I find the show to just be enjoyably funny. I have a good time with each episode, and that’s really the least I can ask for my investment of 30 minutes.

Always the bridesmaid...

            Now, onto the episode! Are you ready for some Daredevil? Well, keep being ready because he’s not in this episode! Nope, it’s Jen feeling obligated to attend the wedding of an old friend she lost touch with and, wow. Talk about bridezillas. Jen is a lot nicer a person than I am because if I had to put up with all the crap she did, I would’ve been long gone. And can we just give props to cousin Ched’s (Nicholas Cirillo) embracing the family legacy with his DJ name, The In-Ched-able Hulk? Overall, the whole A-plot was pretty fun, if not frustrating in parts. It did a lot to showcase that Jen is starting to embrace her Shulkie side while maybe becoming increasingly insecure with her Jen side. Which is why the guy who took an interest in Jen at the wedding could be seen as highly suspect, although hopefully he’s not. I mean, c’mon, throw a girl a bone!

Mr. Immortal learns the price of "love".

            The B-Plot was equally fun. We get the first live-action appearance of Great Lakes Avenger Mr. Immortal (David Pasquesi) as he comes to the law firm to deal with a messy divorce. Mallory and Nikki are on his case—both legally and because of how crappy he treated all of his spouses. This is another case that I wish the episode had more time to deal with as it was really fun and had a lot of comedic potential, but for what we got it was enjoyable. We also learn a bit more about Mallory.

Shots fired!

            Comic fans then got a nice little nugget in the form of The Intelligencia. The Intelligencia was a team comprised of some of the Marvel U’s most intelligent villains banding together in common goals. In She-Hulk, it’s another bit of trolling on the toxic fandom as it’s represented as an online message board dealing with supers, with a particular section dedicated to the eradication of She-Hulk. That also segued back to the events of an earlier episode as we draw closer to the ultimate plot of the show. And, if some rumors turn out to be true, we may know who our ultimate big bad is. Dun dun DUN!

Titania had it coming.

            This episode continues the trend of seemingly disconnected events being presented to the audience whose payoff will come as the show progresses. As always, the episodes feel really short and there’s so much more story potential to be mined from the situations at hand, but the crew still manages to entertain within their limitations. You may not find it uproariously funny, but you shouldn’t ever be bored.

CH-CH-CHANGES

 

            Disney just recently had their D23 expo where they reveal all the projects they have going on under their various umbrellas. Naturally, that mix included some Marvel Studios stuff. And, just as naturally, a contingent of irate fanboys had to bemoan the fact that some things didn’t match the comics. Differences from the source material is always a contention in any kind of adaptation, but it has been especially prevalent in the world of comics-to-film. And it boggles the mind as to why that is because it’s always been the case.

Superman on the radio!

            Let’s go alllllllllllllllllll the way back. Superman was adapted first to the radio in 1940 with serialized adventures. That show largely did its own thing, having Superman arrive on Earth as a fully grown man (later retconned to be in line with the comics origin), able to fly, and be vulnerable to Kryptonite (introduced as a way to explore Superman’s origins that became a plot device trotted out to give actor Bud Collyer a break). Superman’s first flight in the comics, Superman #10, happened because new artist Leo Nowak assumed that was one of his powers as the way he was depicted leaping looked as if he was flying. Kryptonite didn’t hit the books until Superman #61 in 1949.

This is an official Captain America. No, really.

            Over on the Marvel side of things, Captain America became their first hero adapted with the 1944 Republic serial. However, besides the name and costume, nothing about the character was Captain America. This Cap was District Attorney Grant Gardner (Dick Purcell). If he was a Super Soldier there was no mention of it, he wielded a gun instead of a shield, had a secretary for a partner rather than Bucky, and fought a criminal mastermind rather than the Nazis. Film Historians Jim Harmon and Don Glut would come to speculate that the script was originally written for another character that Republic couldn’t get the rights to so they just dumped Cap into the story with superficial changes.

The original live-action Marvel.

            Okay, let’s jump ahead to when comics were in-demand for adaptation: the 1970s, where you had The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Shazam! and Wonder Woman on TV, and Doctor Strange and Captain America in made-for-TV movies. Well, Nicholas Hammond’s Spidey didn’t travel by web-slinging or wisecrack, and wore his utility belt and single web-shooter outside of his costume. He also never fought any supervillains (except one with telekinetic powers, but he wasn’t from the comics). Lou Ferrigno’s Hulk wasn’t pursued by the army, didn’t cause mass-destruction, and wasn’t impervious to harm from things like bullets. Shazam didn’t get his powers from a wizard, but rather the six beings that embodied his abilities: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury, as well as traveled around in an RV with his mentor figure (named Mentor, played by Les Tremayne). Again, no supervillains. Now while the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman was comics-accurate as far the character herself goes, the series itself also failed to utilize any of her villains and depicted Diana Prince as a secret agent (or Steve Trevor’s secretary during WWII in the first season). In Doctor Strange, Peter Hooten’s character as a psychiatrist rather than a surgeon, and his foray into magic came from an inherited ring rather than destroying his hands in an accident. And for the two Captain America films, the WWII element was removed entirely in favor of a modern setting, Reb Brown’s Steve Rogers was a former Marine-turned-traveling artist, and his murdered father, whose patriotic attitude earned him the nickname “Captain America”, developed the FLAG formula (Full Latent Ability Gain) that turned him into a superhero. This Cap did use a shield, but it was rendered see-through to double as the windshield to his motorcycle.

What were you expecting? A little Jewish girl from Illinois?

            But wait, you say; what about in the 90s with those cartoons everyone loved? Good point! Those were, to date, the closest to ever come to actually closely resembling the source material. BUT! Changes were still made. X-Men and Spider-Man would mix and match story elements, such as the coming of Bishop being integrated into the Days of Future Past storyline; being sent back to the past instead of Kitty Pryde to prevent the mutant imprisonment and massacres. And the beloved Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy? You can start from the fact Spidey had organic web-shooters up to the fact they retconned it so that Sandman accidentally killed Uncle Ben by the time the third film rolled around.

Try adapting this short story into a 100% accurate feature film!

            So what’s the point? The point is this: comic books are their own medium. They can be endlessly continuous or self-contained and limited. They’re not beholden to the laws of physics or budgetary concerns (beyond, y’know, what the creative team is paid—which is hopefully fairly!). When adapting comics to another medium, compromises have to be made. Fictional characters are eternal, actors are not. While it’s easy to just recast like the James Bond franchise, sometimes that’s not an option and, let’s face it, people will still complain because it’s not long their favorite actor (assuming they liked them in the first place). Costumes sometimes have to sacrifice accuracy for functionality. Sure, many talented cosplayers bring them exactly from the page to reality, but how many of those can actually handle rigorous movement without falling apart? Rights issues are another thing. As you may well know Marvel had to sell off a bunch of rights to stave off bankruptcy, which meant certain characters have been unavailable requiring their replacement with another character that could fill the void.

Even Watchmen changed the ending.

            And the biggest reason? It’s damn hard to condense what’s a serialized story into just 2 ½ hours. TV shows make a more comparable format for the adaptation of ongoing comics, but as they keep on insisting to make movies and people want to go, they’re going to have to find a way to tell as close of a similar story as possible with a definitive beginning, middle and end.  

The future is full.

            The long and short of it is the comics are the comics, the movies and shows are the movies and shows. They each come with their own benefits and drawbacks, and while similar will never fully compare to each other. If it bothers you that much, just consider them alternate universe versions. That’s a big thing now, right? Whatever the case, just sit back and enjoy. Comic fans are being fed and fed well this decade. Whereas we only got dribs and drabs since the Golden Age, we’re getting a bunch of movies and shows every year. Enjoy it the feast before the inevitable famine returns.

SHE-HULK EPISODE 5 REVIEW

            Finally! The moment you’ve all been waiting for!

A very good lawyer.

            …Is not in this episode. Sorry! BUT! The door for it to happen has been opened, so just wait and see.

Titania making that bank.

            Overall, this was a fun episode that saw Shulkie dealing with Titania’s (Jameela Jamil) legal shenanigans, on top of her bestie, Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga), going to great lengths to help Jen get a new wardrobe appropriate for her double lifestyle. I enjoyed myself quite a bit watching this. Nikki and Pug (Josh Segarra) are this episode’s Wong (Benedict Wong) and Madisynn (Patty Guggenheim) and make a fun pairing. Also, once again, the callbacks are coming in (albeit not THAT far back this time around).

A comic book show with great art.

And can we just give a shoutout to the phenomenal artwork of Kagan McLeod that graces the credits of each episode? Among the repeated images seen every episode, we get fun renditions or episode-specific scenes and even the fleshing out of what could be just throwaway lines of dialogue. It’s almost like getting a bonus scene in every episode.

"Okay, I will make her clothing. But no capes!"

            That said, this episode highlights the major problem of She-Hulk: the runtime. This half-hour runtime is doing a serious disservice to the potential this show could reach. The few cases they’ve presented so far have been interesting, but all-too-brief. The case comes in, they do some courtroom banter, case closed. And to remind you, that’s just a few minutes out of everything else going on. We don’t get much lawyering in this “lawyer show.” I, for one, would like to have seen more of the characters dealing with these legal situations in their unique, quirky ways.

Mallory Book will legally eviscerate you as soon as defend you.

            Additionally, the secondary characters are being woefully underutilized. Let’s take the character of Mallory Book (Renée Elise Goldsberry). Readers of Dan Slott and Juan Bobillo’s She-Hulk comics will recognize her as the office B who holds Jen in all kinds of contempt after Jen spoils her flawless winning streak in the courtroom. In She-Hulk the SHOW, she’s seen for all of 10 seconds in the third episode as a potential lawyer for Jen’s former colleague Dennis Bukowski (Drew Matthews). This was the first episode where we got her to any great degree, and while Goldsberry delivers a fine performance as the character, we don’t know why she is how she is, or why Jen is working so hard to be her friend, or why the moment outside of the courthouse meant a lot for both Jen and the character. Instead, she comes off as just another person who puts up a hard front but actually gives a crap inside (at least a teeny, tiny bit).

There's a fun pair in this episode, but it's not who you thiiiiiiiiiiink.

            But honestly, it says something when a one-off character manages to be more memorable than your regulars. Within one week of her appearance, Madisynn has gotten memes galore, an official series poster, and even her own emoji hashtag on Twitter. Characters like Pug and Mallory? I’ve seen YouTube reactors get their names wrong while they were watching the episode! Hell, I, myself, can’t even recall the boss’ name without looking it up. Yeah, we get a couple of cute character interactions and maybe a quirk or two, but overall, these characters are just not given the prominence they should in an ensemble. Nikki is only slightly ahead of the game by the virtue of her just being on screen more than the others. We shouldn’t have had to rely on the credits artwork to fill in some of those blanks for us.

SHE-HULK EPISODE 4 REVIEW

 

A boating outfit and a cat with a matching hat? Swipe right on that!

            Dating in your 30s, amirite? 

"And for my next trick: an express portal to a hell dimension!"

            This is one of those episodes where you really need to turn your brain off and just enjoy. Why do I say that? Well, we get Wong back for another bit of crossover fun, and this time he goes to Shulkie in order to get a magician who flunked out of Kamar-Taj (the magical training ground from Doctor Strange) to stop using a sling ring (the ring that opens up the circular sparkling portals in the MCU) in his hokey magic act before he does something that could potentially disrupt the universe. The “turn your brain off” part comes into play when you logically figure the “sorcerer supreme” could have dealt with this rogue element in any number of ways (such as sling ringing into the culprit’s room at night and snatching back the ring or, as suggested in the episode itself, casting him into the mirror dimension) without relying on Shulkie or the American court system. Especially as seen in the show’s climactic fight scene. But the tone of the show seems to affect everything it touches and Wong is played more as the straight-man in a comedy routine. Particularly when he ends up constantly paired with drunk party girl Madisynn King (Patty Guggenheim). Yeah, I can’t get too much into that without spoilers, but you’ll likely find her annoying endearing (and speaking of spoilers: if you haven’t watched The Sopranos yet and plan to, you may not wanna watch this episode first).

Sexy fun time.

            We seemed to get a lot more Shulkie this episode. A lonely Jennifer attempts to hit the dating circuit with an online profile, but finds her human side either gets ignored or ends up with a total loser. So she makes a profile for her bigger half and discovers the joys of dating as a modern adult (read: mind-numbingly horrible). It does start Jen on the road to embracing her other self and starting to feel more comfortable in her gamma-irradiated skin, while at the same time paints the bummer picture that her world couldn’t give a crap less about plain, ol’, ordinary her (outside of family and friends, ‘natch!).

Maidsynn being...helpful?

            And can we just give it up for supportive superhero families? We’re getting back-to-back portrayals with the previous (and excellent) Ms. Marvel and the Khans, and now Mark Linn-Baker’s Morris Walters. From the one-on-one moment back in the first episode, to attempting to protect his superhero daughter from future attacks complete with a shovel to hide the bodies. Good families for the win!

"Okay, Twitter--say hello to my little friend!"

            Overall, another fun episode, although one you really can’t think too hard about. I did especially enjoy the little dig at online trolls like they did with the last episode. I’m also looking forward to seeing how all of these seemingly unconnected events find a way to intersect as the show goes on. With Jameela Jamil’s Titania set to return in the next episode after being largely absent since the first, it looks like the callbacks are beginning.

SHE-HULK EPISODE 3 REVIEW

 

Boundaries!

            I swear, this is not turning into a She-Hulk fan blog. I have other, NON-She-Hulk stuff in various stages that I’m waiting to not completely hate before I get around to posting. BUT, in the meantime…

The meeting of the plots.

            She-Hulk episode 3! If ever there was an argument for Disney+ Marvel shows being longer, I think this episode was it. After a brief taste in the first episode, we finally get around to some lawyer-ing on this “lawyer show” with two concurrent legal matters. However, the B-plot (so generously pointed out by Shulkie during the episode) had a lot of comedic potential that just wasn’t allowed to be fully tapped in favor of the A-plot, aka the parole of Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky. Both of those plotlines could’ve used a little more time to percolate and deliver a few more laughs.

Blonsky watches his lawyer work.

            We finally get the Wong cameo the trailers have been promising. Now this is where I’m afraid I’ll have to—ugh—actually agree with whiny fanboys about the MCU’s tendency to turn everything comedic at the sacrifice of character. Now, I understand this show is meant to be a sitcom and everything within its orbit will fall into that category, but Wong was a bit—off. Being Sorcerer Supreme seems to have diminished the character’s serious side, which was used to juxtapose Benedict Cumberbatch’s Strange’s more flippant quippyness. I also don’t recall him being so socially awkward when dealing with other people. There was a way to make him funny and still have him feel like Wong.

Enter: Wong!

            The episode delivered another excellent post-credits scene that had me laughing my ass off. I’ve seen a lot of complaints about the CGI and I just didn’t see it. Or, it wasn’t enough to distract me. I thought it looked fine. Also, looks like there’s a mysterious plot developing. What will this mean for our Jade Giantess?  Plus! We get the MCU introduction of The Wrecking Crew: thugs empowered with enchanted construction tools.

They're gonna wreck it!

            Overall, it was another fun episode. Should have been longer to give the legal portion a bit more time to flourish before the brief moment of superheroics. It’ll be interesting to see how all these seemingly unconnected threads intersect by series’ end.